The solution to rub out the NRL's unhurried sin-bin walkers

2018 already has seen more players sin-binned than in the last
three and a half years combined, and more than every season since
1999, where 90 players were given ten in the bin.

However in 2018, nearly every sin-binned player has taken the
opportunity to walk as casually and slowly as possible off the
field to try and give their team mates a chance for a breather and
to get their defensive line set.

This has in turn seen sides that have been down a player faring
rather well despite the handicap.

In Round 20, Newcastle’s Danny Levi took very near a minute to
get off the field after he was given ten in the bin. This is not
just absurd, but it is obscene.

Earlier in the year, in round four, Melbourne captain Cameron
Smith was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes and as he was walking
off the field, he stopped at the sideline to allow his side to make
an interchange.

These incidents deserve immediate attention and severe
penalties.

The NRL needs to modify the rulings on these form of
transgressions and with severe punishment as they are both
essentially forms of cheating.

Option 1: A player has 10 seconds to get off the field (across
any sideline), every second they take after those 10 seconds has
elapsed will equate to an extra two minutes in the sin bin. So as
to ensure players don’t try to rort this, any sin-bin time not used
in the current game has to be served at the start of the next
game.

Under this system, Danny Levi would have had to spend 102
minutes in the sin bin.

Option 2: Similarly, a player has 10 seconds to leave the field,
if they don’t do so in time, they will be sent off and given an
automatic one-week suspension.

When you consider that once the referee signals that a player
has been sin-binned, that player is illegally on the field. Their
deliberate antics to halt the game afterwards is an intentional
professional foul of the highest order, as it shows a blatant
disregard of the referee, the rules and the spirit of the game.

These strong penalties would also see a huge reduction in teams
giving away repeated penalties on their own line, which has been a
huge facet of games this year.

In addition to these, the side who has had a player sin-binned
will not be allowed to replace any players during the stoppage.

Every sin-binned player will also accrue demerit points against
their name.

If teams and players are not going to play the game in good
spirit, then they deserve to cop severe penalties when they get
caught breaching the rules and then taking liberties with the rules
of the game.